Last calendar year brought a fresh crop of bills, new ideas, and some actual laws to the books in Virginia. As we have previously for 2017, here we present some of the winners and losers of the past legislative year. Losing Family Law Bills in 2018 We start with losers so we can finish feeling positive. Legal losers are not necessarily ...
We are in the midst of an aural revolution. Many millions have invited electronic eavesdroppers into their homes, calling them Siri, Alexa, or some other name. Do you trust the spoken words from these devices? Do you trust "her" to hold your confidences? At some point, will you claim, "It's my word against Alexa's?" Are we seeing a societal shift from ...
The NBA has brought us a pulse-pounding history of slam-dunk wins, but for Virginia Dads, one slam dunk may turn you into Paul Pierce when Ron Artest pulled his pants down. Thinking you can stop paying child support when your kid turns 18? Not so fast. The “Age of Majority” … Not a Slam Dunk Bar room "lawyers" (your buddies who ...
Who is a reasonable person? A reasonable person, simply put, can make commonsense decisions just as you or we would. We have handed the American legal system that legacy, in the form of a standard of behavior: what would a "reasonable person" do in this legal dilemma or that situation? What would that same "reasonable person" consider to be a "reasonable and ...
You can be forgiven for thinking lawyers could write a 180-page handbook for using shampoo. Legal "briefs" tend to be anything but brief, and legal pads are deliberately three inches longer than regular pads because, well, words, words, words. So, when you examine a Virginia court's child support order, you may be surprised at how much is left out, considering ...
A nation's children are its future. From that simple idea, we get laws that protect children above all, as in Virginia's "best interest of the child" laws found throughout Virginia Code. This precept crosses state boundaries, too, in the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). Orders for child support are, by virtue of this federal umbrella act that compelled all 50 ...
“White tie and tails” is the most formal of looks for men. It is rarer and more formal, than black tie events like weddings and galas. At the other end of the fashion spectrum, many a Virginia man enjoys his sweatpants and tee-shirt. A Virginia man can swap formal for informal clothing in minutes; changing an informal child support agreement into ...
Nobody can pass a tax law without creating victims and victors. The changes to our tax code brought about by the recent Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) highlight this. Gone will be the deductions for spousal support payments by the payor (in Virginia, usually the man), and the recipients (in Virginia, usually the woman) will not have to declare ...
Children are a kind of illusionist’s trick. They seem to exist with no visible means of support, much like the magician’s mysteriously floating person. Feeling the need to show the greatness of his trick, the illusionist passes a metal ring up and down the floating assistant’s horizontal body, proving no wires hold her up. And yet, just as with our ...